KUCHING, Feb 27: A railway line along the border between Sarawak and Kalimantan could benefit both Malaysia and Indonesia, says Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof.
According to a TVS report, Fadillah, who is also the Minister of Plantation and Commodities, said the railway would be used to transport goods from Kalimantan to Bintulu.
“Perhaps the federal government can help the Sarawak government to negotiate with the Indonesian side to provide a railway to facilitate the transport of goods from Kalimantan to Bintulu Port, using the facilities of Bintulu Port.
“Because if you follow the network, the sea route is quite far, so that can make it easier for Indonesia to export because Kalimantan has many resources.
“So if we can take advantage… we can develop together with Indonesia,” he said in a special interview with Bernama recently.
Following Indonesia’s decision to shift its capital to Kalimantan, Fadillah said that both Malaysia and Indonesia need to prepare themselves.
This is mainly from the aspect of border development and exploring Business-to-Business (B2B) links between the two countries.
He said, among the aspects of border development that will be focused on is the upgrading of Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) complexes along the main border between Sabah, Sarawak, and Kalimantan, following the development of Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital in East Kalimantan.
“The development of cities on the border of Kalimantan, Sabah, and Sarawak needs to be accelerated.
“This is mainly to improve the CIQs and the roads leading to the CIQs at the main borders between Sabah, Sarawak, and Kalimantan,” he said.
The Ministry of Finance previously approved an additional allocation of RM1 billion for projects to upgrade and build better infrastructure along the borders of Sarawak and Sabah, consisting of 1,881km in roads which separate Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia and the Kalimantan region in Indonesia. — DayakDaily
